U.S. Crowdfunding expert, Kate Drane, in NZ to share her thoughts on crowdfunding

Kate with representatives from WREDA and CreativeHQ in Wellington. Photo credit: U.S. Department of State.

By Public Affairs staff, U.S. Embassy Wellington.

Kate Drane, Senior Director of Outreach for Tech and Hardware at San Francisco-based crowdfunding platform Indiegogo, is in New Zealand on an embassy run program, to share her thoughts on the future and current trends of crowdfunding.

Monday saw Kate engage with Kiwi entrepreneurs at GRID Auckland’s Innovation Hub, meet with local crowd-funding platforms, and speak to an audience of around 80 as part of Auckland University of Technology’s Project Connect tech innovation/entrepreneur series, started in partnership with the US Embassy. Throughout her events, Kate shared her thoughts on the future and current trends of crowdfunding as a path to market; showed examples of successful case studies in the US; and shared tips for running successful crowdfunding campaigns. Kate also conducted two media interviews while in Auckland, discussing similar themes with RadioLIVE and innovation publication Idealog.

Kate talking to entrepreneurs at GRID Auckland. Photo credit: U.S. Department of State.

She continued her tour around New Zealand for the week, travelling to Wellington and Christchurch for speaking engagements to local business and entrepreneur communities and strategic meetings with the Wellington Regional Economic Development Agency, Creative HQ, Callaghan Innovation, local crowdfunding platform PledgeMe, and the Christchurch Chamber Of Commerce.

Kate speaking at the Creative HQ/WREDA Startup Garage event in Wellington. Photo credit: U.S. Department of State.Kate meeting up with the team from the NZ Crowdfunding platform, PledgeMe. Photo credit: U.S. Department of State.Kate with Rachel from VRKiwi, at the ProjectR innovation space. Photo credit: U.S. Department of State.Kate Drane speaking at a breakfast event in Christchurch, hosted by the Christchurch Chamber of Commerce. Photo credit: Chch Chamber of Commerce.

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